Farm Management Tips: How to retain good farm workers
Sep 13, 2011
GETTING and keeping good workers is a challenge every farm owner or manager has to deal with on a day to day basis.
GETTING and keeping good workers is a challenge every farm owner or manager has to deal with on a day to day basis.
Good workers are hard to find, so when you get one, you have to do everything possible to retain them. Below are some tips on how to retain good workers on your farm.
Comfortable accommodation
Some farm owners provide better accommodation for their livestock than for the workers who look after them. True it is the livestock generating the money, but without the workers to look after them properly, their productivity will soon drop.
Good food
You would expect farm workers to have the best meals, since food is produced cheaply on the farm; however this is not always the case.
Unless they steal some it is common for a worker on a poultry farm to take a year without tasting an egg, as everything is taken to the market. As a way of motivating them, farm workers should be allowed to enjoy some of the food items produced on the farm or at least be allowed to buy them at a discount.
Entertainment
With the recent developments in technology, it is possible to provide some form of entertainment to your farm workers without spending too much.
A solar powered television set might seem to be too expensive, but it will help stop workers from sneaking off to the nearest trading centre to watch Premier League.
Training
Organise regular training for your workers as a way of increasing their skill levels while at the same time motivating them.
The cheapest way is to hire an expert in a particular field to carry out on site training for all workers. The other is to sponsor a dedicated worker to go for a study tour or go for driving lessons.
Good workers are hard to find, so when you get one, you have to do everything possible to retain them. Below are some tips on how to retain good workers on your farm.
Comfortable accommodation
Some farm owners provide better accommodation for their livestock than for the workers who look after them. True it is the livestock generating the money, but without the workers to look after them properly, their productivity will soon drop.
Good food
You would expect farm workers to have the best meals, since food is produced cheaply on the farm; however this is not always the case.
Unless they steal some it is common for a worker on a poultry farm to take a year without tasting an egg, as everything is taken to the market. As a way of motivating them, farm workers should be allowed to enjoy some of the food items produced on the farm or at least be allowed to buy them at a discount.
Entertainment
With the recent developments in technology, it is possible to provide some form of entertainment to your farm workers without spending too much.
A solar powered television set might seem to be too expensive, but it will help stop workers from sneaking off to the nearest trading centre to watch Premier League.
Training
Organise regular training for your workers as a way of increasing their skill levels while at the same time motivating them.
The cheapest way is to hire an expert in a particular field to carry out on site training for all workers. The other is to sponsor a dedicated worker to go for a study tour or go for driving lessons.